With the advent of the computer age, computer software users have grown accustomed to user-friendly software applications that help them write, calculate, organize, prepare presentations, send and receive electronic mail, make music, and the like. For example, modern electronic mail programs allow users to send and receive electronic mail to and from other users. Modern electronic mail programs also allow users to store sent or received mail in a variety of user-established storage folders.
For many such software applications, such as electronic mail programs, a number of user interfaces are provided for displaying important information to users, such as sent, received or stored electronic mail. Often a number of user interfaces are positioned adjacent to each other such that a first user interface is positioned on a right side of a display screen, a second user interface is positioned to the right of the first user interface, a third user interface is positioned to the right of the second user interface, and so on. If a user desires to make one of the user interfaces narrower to allow more space in one of the adjacent user interfaces, the user may typically reduce the width of the selected user interface by dragging one side of the user interface inward to partially or completely collapse the user interface.
Many user interfaces, such as user interfaces listing sent, received, or stored electronic mail messages, list data in horizontal rows. For example, a row of data in an electronic mail inbox might contain the name of a mail sender, followed by the subject of the mail message, followed by the date of receipt of the mail message, and followed by the size of the mail message. In prior systems, if the user reduces the width of such a user interface by partially collapsing the user interface, some data in the rows of data may be truncated on the side of the user interface being moved inward. Consequently, data of interest to the user may be displaced from visible display.
There is a need for an improved user interface that varies the manner in which data is displayed as the size of the user interface varies. It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present invention has been made.